Agenda item

a          Overview Update – Jo Yelland

b          Focus on Workstream C – Social prescribing and Community Connectors – Sarah Yelland

Overview

Jo Yelland updated the Board on progress with the delivery of the Integrated Care Exeter Programme with four programmes:-

·         New Models of Care : joining up community, primary and community services;

·         New Models of care : street homeless, health and wellbeing;

·         Diverting Demand : linking data for risk stratification for early intervention and prevention; and

·         Diverting Demand : Community Resilience and prevention.

The two elements of the latter were:-

(a)          Individuals (social prescribing); and

(b)          Communities (Community Development) - see below.

The first of the above (a), involved creating a network of community connectors linked to primary care offering alternatives to traditional services and to see if social prescribing could reduce or delay demand on statutory services and improve individual health and wellbeing. The pilot in St Thomas practice in 2015/16 had been expanded and extended until September 2017 in order to increase the number of individuals data included in the evaluation up to around 1,000. Nine GP practices were now actively taking part in the pilot. Referral were now electronic enabling a flexible and quick response with systematic use of NHS number and primary care codes which would enable the maximum number of cases to be included in the evaluation.

Jo Yelland introduced Sarah Yelland of the Devon Community Foundation who were now leading and co-ordinating the development of Wellbeing Exeter. Sarah described some of the characteristics of the people being referred:-

32% - socially isolated;

25% - increased social activities;

7%   - support with finance; and

7%   - weight management

Community Building

Sarah Yelland explained that a key element of the programme was to get a better understanding of how communities can do more to help themselves and reduce demand on statutory services and to help understand in what ways statutory organisations could contribute to community resilience.

Exeter CVS were co-ordinating the Community Connectors with five now full time staff employed by organisations such as Age UK and Topsham’s Estuary League of Friends.

Issues were:-

·         the complex nature of social prescribing and difficulty in understanding and verbalising the offer;

·         identification of different means of helping - whereas direct relief and rehabilitation and caring were vital, social prescribing was focussed on advocacy and citizenship;

·         continued pull of “service land” - importance of encouraging GP’s to seek to use neighbourhood and community solutions rather than “referring on”; and

·         there was a genuine enthusiasm from a range of organisations.

Sarah Gibbs referred to the recently commissioned County Council initiative - One Small Step - a new, free lifestyle service aimed at helping increase the number of adults at risk of developing a long-term health conditions to take small steps towards a healthier lifestyle with a focus around alcohol misuse, mental health and smoking which would be launched on 1 February.  Jo Yelland referred to the Devon County Council on-line Directory of Services “Pinpoint” which had been re-vamped and was a really good source of local services and community groups across Devon and explained that the One Small Step website and others such as an NHS site with free, self-help download Apps were all being linked into Pinpoint and that the Wellbeing Exeter Connectors were being encouraged to use this as a single source of trusted information. Wellbeing Exeter had bid to the DCLG Community Services Grant for funding to further develop Pinpoint.

It was felt that all the programmes were moving forward positively with the partner organisations working well together but that final evaluation would be critical in terms of providing (or not) the original hypothesis that social prescribing can reduce demand on statutory service.

The Chair thanked Jo Yelland and Sarah Yelland for their updates.